The University Of Nottingham’s department of Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies has won a special award at the Brazilian International Press Awards for its important contribution to the promotion of the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture.

Professor Bernard McGuirk, who received the award on behalf of the University, has played a pivotal role in the success of the department, after establishing a Portuguese and Brazilian Culture programme at the University of Nottingham in the 1980s. The programme now has the largest number of students and professors exploring the field of any UK university.

Commenting on the award, Professor McGuirk said: "The University's originality in developing Latin American Studies three decades ago was its insistence on the parallel and inseparable roles of the Spanish and Portuguese languages in inspiring students and senior researchers to disseminate their expertise on Brazil in the broader continental context.

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"As a consequence, several generations of Nottingham-trained specialists have furthered awareness of Brazilian culture from international intellectual and political perspectives throughout the period of the country's emergence as one of the most prominently recognised economic, social and cultural players. The University is deeply honoured to receive this most recent accolade".

The Nottingham team teach a wide variety of subjects relating to the Portuguese language, Brazil, and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Graduates of the programme have gone on to teach at universities in Cambridge, London, Manchester, Aveiro (Portugal), Minho (Portugal), and Brazilian universities in Florianópolis, Manaus, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Caterina and São Paulo.

Now in its third year, the Brazilian International Press Awards recognise the promotion of the Portuguese language and Brazilian art, culture and communication.

Notes to editors: The University of Nottinghamhas 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It was ‘one of the first to embrace a truly international approach to higher education’, according to the Sunday Times University Guide 2013. It is also one of the most popular universities among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong and the QS World Rankings.

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its research into global food security.